No one knows the City Game better than Brooklyn-born Bernard King. The former Knick great is working with Bruce Ratner‘s group, which is trying to buy the Nets and move them from Jersey to Brooklyn and build the perfect home for Jason Kidd’s team.

“Having the Nets in Brooklyn would be phenomenal, Brooklyn deserves a team,” King, who played for the Nets from 1977-79 and again in 1992-93, told us. “It would be like the Yankees playing the Mets and a playoff series with the games going from Brooklyn to the Garden would be so exciting.”

Bernard’s parents live just four blocks from the proposed site of a new arena and redevelopment area, which would include 4,500 units of affordable housing. Having city kids at the city game would be a dream come true, King says. “I still remember the one Knick game I went to as a kid,” he explained. “There is a gleam in a kid’s eye when he meets his hero face to face. It stays with you for life.”

King is keeping a close eye on his Knicks (1982-87) and loves what he sees so far from Isiah Thomas. “It’s amazing what he has done in such a short period of time,” King says. “He’s commanded the Back Page. Getting Stephon Marbury home so quickly was terrific. I understand what Stephon is feeling right now. Every night I put on that uniform I got goose bumps. There is nothing like growing up in New York and playing for the Knicks.”

No one delivered like King, who deserves to have his number 30 retired. Noted Hubie Brown of King in Dennis D’Agostino‘s book “Garden Glory:” “His years with us were as great as any player has ever had in New York.” King now lives in Atlanta with his wife Shana and their beautiful five-year-old daughter Amina. They reside in the same subdivision as former Knick Gerald Wilkins and former Rocket No. 1-overall pick Ralph Sampson. The three might be able to put together a pretty good neighborhood team, don’t you think?

Sign us up

Room to Grow, the New York City based non-profit that provides support to babies born into poverty, is having a charity auction hosted by Uma Thurman. One lucky winner will accompany Bob Costas at a pre-game dinner at Smith & Wollensky before heading over to the Garden to watch the Knicks take on phenom LeBron James on April 14. Another winner will get four VIP tickets to a Yankees-Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium, where they will watch batting practice from the first row, then head out to the field and take a picture with Joe Torre and their favorite player. Then head to Fenway to watch the teams meet up again and throw out the first pitch. The Room to Grow benefit auction will be held Jan. 26 at Christie’s. For more information call (212) 573-6933.

Better than Most

We love Mike Carey‘s new book on legendary Boston announcer Johnny Most. “High Above Courtside: The Lost Memoirs of Johnny Most” that Carey wrote with Jamie Most, Johnny’s son. The gravel-voiced Most bled Boston green but he broke in covering the “Boys of Summer” on the Brooklyn Dodgers Radio Network. Then he became Marty Glickman‘s color man for the Knicks, a team he “hated” once he became the Celtics’ voice. He also spent two seasons as Glickman’s color man for the New York football Giants. Most spanned the generations and once asked Larry Bird why he would usually hide in the trainer’s room after a victory, yet was always by his locker to answer tough questions after losses. “It’s easy to talk big when you’ve just beaten somebody,” Bird told Johnny. “Anyone can do that. But for me, a guy’s real character comes across after he loses. That’s when you see who makes the excuses, who the crybabies are, and who were big enough to admit that they just weren’t as good as the other guy.”

Amani’s pick

Giants WR Amani Toomer was Larry Beil‘s guest this week on Yahoo! Sports’ weekly “SportStream”show. Toomer predicted both road teams will come out on top in the conference championship games. According to Toomer, Indianapolis will avenge a Week 6 loss to Carolina by winning their first Super Bowl in 33 years. Since his old coach isn’t coaching anymore, Jim Fassel will write a occasional columns on SuperBowl.com in the weeks leading up to Super Bowl.

Blow me down

Yesterday marked the birthday of Popeye and lookalike Don Zimmer. Zim is 73, the old sailor man is 75. The Empire State Building is green like spinach this weekend in honor of Popeye. In 2004, the mighty mariner will be honored through an array of initiatives timed to his 75th anniversary. This will include an all-new, state-of-the-art, CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) animated special to be aired in primetime on the Fox Television Network and released on DVD by Lion’s Gate Home Entertainment’s Family Home Entertainment, a wide range of new merchandise, and several events and promotions. We have an idea, just let Zim play the main character while his arch-enemy, The Boss can play the role of Bluto.

Photo finish

The late Knicks’ trainer Danny Whelan is credited with nicknaming Walt Frazier, “Clyde.” Here’ the rest of the story on how Danny was inspired to give Frazier that handle. George Kalinsky, legendary Garden photographer, took a picture of Frazier wearing an all-black outfit and a fedora like Warren Beatty wore in the movie “Bonnie & Clyde.” Frazier came to Kalinsky’s office in 1970 with that unique outfit. George says, “I insisted on photographing him. I then showed that photograph to Whelan. Subsequently Walt came to see Whelan with the same attire. He then nicknamed Frazier ‘Clyde.’ ” And that’s what he has been known as since that day. George was among the pallbearers at Danny’s funeral, along with Clyde and Willis Reed.